It's been 3 years since the Army opened combat positions to women — here's how they're doing

U.S. Army Infantry soldiers-in-training assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade, begin their first day of Infantry One Station Unit Training (OSUT) February 10, 2017.
Patrick A. Albright/US Army

Since the military opened combat positions to women nearly three years ago, almost 800 women have integrated into previously male-only units.

Army Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands said that women are doing "incredibly well" in their new roles.

His comments came the same day Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis declared the jury was still out for women in combat.

This January will make three years since the Army opened infantry, armor, fire support and special operator jobs to women for the first time.

"They're doing incredibly well," Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands said. "We have females graduating from Ranger School. The things that we looked at when we opened up the specialties are happening across the board."

His comments came the same day that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis demurred on making an overall assessment of the integration effort, when responding to a question from a cadet during an engagement at he Virginia Military Institute.

"We don't even have data at this time that I can answer your question," he said.

Those remarks sparked a backlash from advocacy groups.

"When the most senior military leader makes it clear that this was not a policy that he supported but one that he 'inherited,' he is tacitly endorsing efforts to undermine the success of the women currently serving in the infantry and in combat arms," the Service Women's Action Network said in a Sept. 26 release. "He is sabotaging the efforts of his men and women who are working to integrate women, and his remarks likely put women at greater risk from those in their units who would do them harm because he has signaled that he doubts women belong in their units."

But according to the Army's personnel chief, things are going as planned.

"We have females that are volunteering to go to infantry, armor out of all the commissioning sources," Seamands said. "I asked West Point, the think tank up there, to tell me what they saw [with] the propensity, and looking at the West Point cadets, the propensity is actually going up among our females."

And as of late September, 18 women had graduated from Ranger School, an all-but-required test for a successful career in ground combat leadership.

"They continue to be interested, and we see that as a real positive thing," Seamands said.